For the past several weeks, WWE officials have been negotiating with The Rock to make an appearance at WrestleMania 34 . At first, it seemed they wanted him to work a match as Ronda Rousey’s partner against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. That didn’t happen and he was replaced with Kurt Angle. The next idea was for The Rock to confront Elias on the grandest stage of them all, but that’s also been canceled . The two sides are still negotiating, but their talks are creating big problems within WWE, especially with John Cena.
According to a new report from Dirty Sheets , The People’s Champion genuinely wants to be in New Orleans for WrestleMania this year. Roman Reigns and Nia Jax are both expected to win titles and have big nights, but Warner Brothers has complete control over The Rock’s media schedule and he would be forced to miss a trip to Europe to promote his new movie, Rampage . That’s a big problem because the film is released in Europe and the U.S. the week after WrestleMania , so it’s a huge hit for The Rock to miss those appearances.
However, The Great One could still appear at WrestleMania 34 if WWE agrees to heavily promote the film to make up for the lost appearances, but that would be a huge slap in the face to John Cena. His new movie, Blockers , has been released in Europe and will premiere in the U.S. during WrestleMania weekend, but the film has received little promotion from WWE and that isn’t expected to change next weekend. Cena is said to be very frustrated that WWE will bend over backwards for the Rock, but won’t promote his movie at all.
Meanwhile, John Cena has been promoting a match for WrestleMania 34 with The Undertaker by himself over the past several weeks. It’s possible that WWE may not even officially announce their match next week on Raw . The company has promoted other appearances from Cena, but Blockers is a rated R adult comedy, which goes against the family-friendly way that WWE does business. It’s understandable why WWE would not want to promote Cena’s move, but it’s also understandable why John Cena would be really frustrated.
The irony is that John Cena was just praising The Rock during a recent interview with The Wrap . It’s been reported that current betting odds give The Great One a 99 percent chance of showing up at WrestleMania . The expectation is a deal will be worked out before the grandest stage of them all, but it’s unclear how the issue between Cena and WWE will be resolved. According to PWInsider Elite Audio , John Cena will be taking a hiatus after WrestleMania 34. The hope is that John Cena and WWE officials can part ways on good terms.